Don’t take it from our hides

Many of us, young and old, have been alarmed by the damage inflicted on our individual and national well-being by the floundering economy and the ongoing Gulf oil spill. Meanwhile, another insidious threat to all of us who live and work in this country has been largely ignored.

What has been given great attention is the opinion of those who call themselves "fiscal conservatives". They insist that our federal budget deficit is our nation's biggest threat and that our "unsustainable" Social Security system is responsible for the deficit and must be cut back.

In response to these so-called fiscal conservatives, President Obama has created the Bipartisan Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. The Committee's job is to recommend ways to decrease our federal deficit, which has indeed reached astronomical levels. However, rather than concentrating on the devastating degree to which such things as the Iraq and Afghan wars, billions in tax cuts for the wealthy and the ongoing economic collapse triggered by the greed of Wall Street have increased our deficit, the Commission appears intent on attacking the most important and successful part of our National personal safety net